Book Description

In 1822, two great poets ¿ Percy Bysshe Shelley and George Gordon, Lord Byron ¿ lived in Pisa, Italy, together with three friends. They met daily in Byron's palazzo for discussions, which sometimes lasted into the middle of the night. Although these men had wives and children, they were gay, for male love was an important part of their lives. They thought of themselves as ¿pariahs¿ in ¿exile¿, and for good reason. Men and boys in their home country, England, were being hanged for having sex with each other, whereas Italy had no such laws. All of them were ardent Hellenists, who knew well that male love had flourished in Ancient Greece ¿ the same male love that was persecuted in their own time. Despite the censorious efforts of friends and family, ample evidence survives that they loved other males. Homoeroticism in their works was usually coded for the ¿initiated¿, but was sometimes amazingly candid. After only half a year, the Shelley-Byron circle was blown apart by the untimely deaths of their leading members. John Lauritsen de-codes homoerotic references, reinterprets major works of English Romanticism, and places all in historical context. Love and sex between males is an ordinary, healthy part of the human sexual repertoire. For too long, biographers have falsified the love lives of the Shelley-Byron men. The time has come to bring them into the light of day.